Naruto: Unlocked
by Nagato21
Summary: After Naruto failed the Genin graduation exam for the first time, the Sandaime decides to give him a little helping boost not realizing that by doing so he has unleashed a potential that will forever rock the foundation of their world. Smart Naruto, not god like, some minor Sakura and Sasuke bashing. Mature Konoha 12 and some Limes.
1. Prologue: A spark of hope

**Hey everyone, Nagato21 here, so here is my first crack at Naruto, I have been experimenting with a few prototypes but never got into it much due to how disappointing the manga ended. Naruto had so much potential and yet it barely scratch the surface. So here is my own twist. Enjoy!**

 **Prologue: A spark of hope**

In one of the many training grounds of Konohagakure, a young boy with blond hair, three whiskers adorning each cheek, sparking blue eyes, and wearing a monstrously orange colored jumpsuit was working hard in performing a series of complex hand seals. As he completed the Jutsu, a small cloud of smoke erupted, and then cleared to reveal a figure resembling the boy except it was sickly looking.

"Damn it!" curses Naruto Uzumaki as the sick looking clone dispels "Why can't I get this Jutsu right?"

"Working hard I see" calls a familiar voice, causing Naruto to turn around, facing him was an old man wearing a white robe and a red and white hat with the Kanji of Fire on it.

"Hey old man!" greets the young boy cheerfully "What are you doing here?"

Sarutobi Hiruzen also known as the Sandaime Hokage and Kami No Shinobi smiles slightly "I was going for a stroll when I saw you training here."

"Oh?" says Naruto as he rubs the back of his head, a sign he was embarrassed "I've been trying to master the **Bunshin no Jutsu** but I can't seem to get it right"

Hiruzen nodded his smile hiding his concerns; truth be told he did not walk here by coincidence. Naruto being their resident Junchiriki and while scorned by many was still considered as an important investment. While Hiruzen would have wish the boy to live the life of a normal child and had gone to great length to protect him from the villagers abuses he knew deep well that being a ninja was in the boy's vein and that one day he would need to confront the demon residing inside him. Under other circumstances, Naruto would have been under lock and key, constantly watched by ANBU and trained harshly to become a cold killing machine.

However Konoha was not like the other villages and Sarutobi aware of the Uzumaki legacy as the Kyuubi's jailers was not about to break the tradition despite Danzo and other war hawks demanding the boy be turned into a weapon. Beside he owed his father and mother too much to consider doing such thing. To that end he had placed the boy in the Academy with the hope that he would foster strong bonds with others of his age that were unaware of the secret inside him. Unfortunately despite his orders, Sarutobi had failed to notice early that the hatred of the adults for the boy would spread to their children without them having to reveal the truth.

Worse Naruto had joined the academy at the early age of six but the teachers sabotaging caused him to fail the graduation exam thus he was now returning for a second term of five years but this time he would be with students slightly younger than him.

However the problem didn't just lie with the teachers, Naruto's tenant was also a cause of disruption. That brings us back to the problem at hand.

Naruto was unable to perform the **Bunshin** **no Jutsu** because such Jutsu requires small amount of chakra and despite Naruto's attempt to use small fractions of it, the Kyuubi's chakra often mixes with his own thus disrupting his control and forcing large reserves out of his body.

"Naruto how many Bunshin are you trying to make?" asks the Sandaime

"Three but I can only make one and it's not good enough" growls the blond boy

Hiruzen rummages his hand through his grey beard, his mind deep in thoughts "Try to make as many as you can."

"Huh?"

"If you do it that way it will help you measure the amount of chakra you need to use when making three."

Naruto was confuse but agreed nonetheless since he trusted the Hokage who was like the grandfather he never had. Naruto performed once more the jutsu and poured as much chakra as he could. Suddenly a massive cloud of smoke filled the entire training ground, when it dissipated; Hiruzen had to refrain from having his jaw fall on the ground as he saw hundreds of Naruto's

"Wow! I did it, I did it!" shouts the boy in pure joy, he runs and hug the Hokage

"Thank you Jiji!"

Hiruzen smiles "You are welcome Naruto but it's not over yet. Now you must learn how much chakra you must use to make a small number, which means you must improve your chakra control."

"Huh?" says the boy with a confuse look "What is chakra control?"

Hiruzen had to refrain from palming his own face. _'What is the academy teaching these days?'_ He had to admit that because of the constant stream of paperwork he had not been too privy about the academy curriculum but he had to wonder how come Naruto did not know about chakra control.

"Chakra control is a way to help a shinobi in manipulating the flow of chakra inside his body, this way he can use many Jutsu without being too exhausted."

"Huh?"

A sweat drop ran the back of his head, he forgot that Naruto was not exactly the sharpest kunai in a holster "It's like a river that is overflowing with water, if you want to stop it from overflowing you build a damn, this way it prevents the water from flooding the surrounding and at the same time brings enough water for everyone."

"Oh okay" reply the boy now understanding, "That means if I have chakra control I can use Bunshin no Jutsu without having to use too much chakra."

Hiruzen nodded "That's correct Naruto; however chakra control is a difficult exercise for those who have too much chakra like you and you will need to exercise regularly to avoid losing control, otherwise you won't be able to execute your Jutsus properly."

"No problem, if its hard work I can handle it" spoke the boy while puffing his chest; Hiruzen had to admire his tenacity. Despite Naruto's present lack of skills, the boy was definitely stubborn and always working hard.

 _'Just like you Kushina'_ thought the Sandaime as he recall the image of a spunky young red hair woman full of vigor.

"Will you teach me chakra control?" asks Naruto with a hopeful tone

Hiruzen had to think for a moment, he could help Naruto and certainly the boy would skyrocket through the academy, however he could not reveal his involvement to the villagers and it would create too much problems, not that he did care about rumors but politics were a hassle when being Hokage.

"I am sorry Naruto but I can't" spoke the Hokage softly "If I train you, people would accuse me of favoritism and others would want to be trained as well."

"I understand Jiji" says the boy while smiling but his voice was slightly hollow "It would be unfair to the others but thank you. Now I know what I need to do." he spoke with enthusiasm but Hiruzen had seen a small glint of sadness in those blue eyes. It tore at his heart but it was necessary. A small smile curled on the God of Shinobi however, because he still had a trick up his sleeve to help the young boy move forward.

"Here Naruto" he says while taking out a scroll from under his robe

"What is this?" asks the boy curious as he took the scroll he read the title **"The basics of the Shinobi way by Tobirama Senju"**

"Naruto" the Hokage's voice had become serious as he pronounced the boy's name "This scroll belonged to my late Sensei, the Nidaime Hokage."

Naruto's eyes widen so much they threatened to fall from their sockets. As an aspiring candidate to Hokage hood, Naruto had read everything he could about the former leaders of Konoha. Unfortunately, information on them was very scarce and those that did only contained a brief story of their achievements and famous Jutsu but no details whatsoever. Even the Yondaime story could be described in a few pages.

While Naruto's reaction was funny, Hiruzen expression remained serious "Tobirama sensei started writing this scroll during the founding of Konoha. Originally it was to become the standard education for the academy but it was not approved by the Council due to politics. Instead Tobirama sensei reserved it for those who would have the potential to become Hokage."

At his words, Naruto felt he died and went to heaven "Are…are you saying this scroll is a manual on how to become Hokage?"

"No!" said Hiruzen forcefully "There is no shortcut in how to become Hokage, Naruto. Being Hokage means putting your personal needs aside for the good of the village. It means sacrificing your own happiness for the sake of others. If you want to become Hokage, your Will of Fire must burn as brightly as the sun that shines upon our head every day."

Naruto nodded slowly, ashamed by his own arrogance, he remembered the old man telling him about the Will of Fire. While Naruto felt bitter about people hating him for no reason, he also felt that it would do him no good to respond to their hatred. Instead he would become Hokage to prove to them he wasn't what they made him out to be. As years went by in company of the Hokage, Naruto had learned that shinobi were not always invincible, they were humans just like him and that they did many terrible things so that people like him could sleep soundly at night without worries. This realization had strengthened his resolve to become a shinobi and protect his home from the dangers of outside. He had no love for the villagers of course, but not everyone was bad nor were they perfect. He had few friends and he cherished them, thus he would do his part so that they would not suffer.

Hiruzen did not know about Naruto's resolve but he suspected something along those lines. He knew Naruto was more observant than he let out. Were he given the right tutelage, he would already be hailed as a prodigy shinobi; alas the villagers had a remarkable capacity to be ignorant idiots.

"I know why you want to become Hokage Naruto" Hiruzen says softly as he rubs the boy's hair "It will take time to accomplish your goal, a lot of time and a lot of blood and sweat. Sometimes you will feel like giving up but if you persevere you will surely reach your goal. Focus on becoming a strong shinobi, make bonds with friends you can trust and protect Konoha with all your might."

Tears began to pour out from his eyes and Naruto hugged his surrogate grandfather who responded in kind. They both stood silently in the middle of the training ground for several minutes. That day, unknown to them and the world at large would mark the beginning of a new legend.

...

 **AN/**

 **So here ends the Prologue. Now a few clarifications, at the start of this story Naruto is ten years old and two years older than the students of class 9 thus by the time he graduates he will be fifteen years old, this also means that team 9 (Neji, Tenten and Lee) has already graduated but they will be genin for a longer period instead of one year. Also just to make it very clear, Naruto is not going to become some UBER FANTASTIC GOD. EVER, he is going to mature and he is going to act like a true shinobi, meaning its going to be quick, bloody and dirty so expect a lot of violence at some point. Anyway I won't spoil it further.**

 **Next chapter coming soon.**


	2. Chapter 1: Progression and Truths

**Chapter 1: Progression and Truths**

It had been six months since his fateful discussion with the old man Hokage. Naruto had accepted the Nidaime's training scroll and studied extensively. To his greatest disappointment, the scroll featured no Jutsu but instead it contained a variety of training menus for any kind of specialty a shinobi would desire; ranging from infiltration, sabotage, information gathering, survival, cooking, poison and medicine. Ninjutsu and genjutsu were to be researched and studied on his own time.

At first Naruto was excited and confused, not knowing where to start, but recalling the old man Hokage's advice, he focused at first on Chakra control. The scroll had detailed information about Chakra Control and advices for those who had large reserves. Thus Naruto began tree climbing, it was difficult for him to gauge the correct output needed to stick on the tree, but after two weeks he managed it and even reached the top. On advices from the scroll he reproduced the exercise on any vertical surface he could find, walls, lamp post, and fences. The scroll also advised him to use chakra to boost his speed, by releasing small amount of chakra beneath his feet just before performing a jump or a dash run.

The result from doing so much chakra control exercises bore fruit rapidly; Naruto was now able to perform Henge, Kawarimi and Bunshin without any difficulty, to the point where he only needed one seal. However the blonde would not stop here, the Nidaime according to the scroll was a perfectionist in every true sense of the word and advised that while the Basic three jutsu of the academy seemed weak, once mastered, a shinobi would be very difficult to defeat. The secret to mastering these jutsu was not in their perfect execution but in how to apply them during combat situations. To succeed in that endeavour, Naruto realized he needed to do some research, a lot of research.

The Konoha Public Library proved to be a gold mine of information for Naruto who hated reading a book with the exception of comic books. While there was no Jutsu, the library had everything concerning the history and geography of Konoha, the elemental nations and brief information about the other hidden villages. It also had scores of shinobi biography (of course they were redacted) which would help Naruto understand what it felt like being on a battlefield and how best to prepare himself. Of course nothing could make him ready for his first kill, but the amount of information will help curb the emotional damage. By reading these biographies, Naruto gained quite an insight in the usefulness of the shinobi basics, to the point where he could perform a Kawarimi on almost anyone or anything. When he learned that some shinobi often carried wooden logs with them in case they were in an area where there was no tree and it would confuse their enemies for a moment (Shinobi are sticklers for details), Naruto came up with the idea of storing his own logs but unlike the regular ones, these logs had nasty surprises.

For Henge no jutsu, Naruto had discovered that his transformation was very physical unlike the regular ones, a brief visit to the Hokage revealed that instead of executing the normal Henge, Naruto was using the Kage Henge, a stronger and chakra costing variant but the Jutsu was nearly undetectable unless you had a Dojutsu or were a sensor, but even then it was difficult to detect the illusion unless you were aware of it.

For Bunshin, Naruto was disappointed, while it was nice at first to be able to cast it, Naruto felt that the Bunshin were often useless because they were easy to detect. However they could be used to distract or confuse an enemy but that would require precise timing and speed. Nonetheless knowing it was an academy requirement, Naruto went on to master the jutsu that had become the bane of his existence. He would never be able to summon a single stable clone but he could at least make three of them or as many as he wanted.

Another skill Naruto had started to develop was Fuinjutsu, the scroll had pointed out that Shinobi often underestimated the esoteric skill when its applications were limitless, one only had to look at the explosive tag and storage seal to understand the point. Finding books on Sealing Arts was not difficult there were thousands of them but most were unnecessarly complicated or debated the pros and cons; Naruto would've given up until he found a series of book titled **"** **Fuinjutsu for Non Intellectual by Jiraiya The Gamma Sannin".** Naruto would've dismissed the book were it not for the fact that he knew who Jiraiya was from the history book, the Sandaime's student and teacher of the Yondaime his hero.

The series consisted of five books, the first two volumes focused on the fundamentals of Fuinjutsu and caligraphy, the remaining three contained basic seal structures and how to modify them to create more complex ones. The writtings were so simple and filled with pictograms and side notes allowing Naruto to understand the mysterious art without being mathematical genius. It took him a month to develop his caligraphy skills and understand the basics, another month and he could now create shock tags, altough it had not been without dangers and after nearly burning his appartment the Sandaime had ordered him to practice in a special training ground dedicated for Sealing, considering most people understood jack shit about it, Naruto could come and go as he pleased.

Despite all the training, Naruto still went to the academy but in his pursuit to become a true shinobi he stopped pulling pranks and devoted more time to do the required assignments and exercises. As a result and to the amazement of many who knew him, Naruto Uzumaki had risen from dead last to one of the top ten rookies. With a few exceptions like Iruka Umino who was quite proud of his surrogate brother, some of the teachers began to view the blonde's improvement with negativity, something Naruto was quick to notice as well.

Indeed, by learning meditation, and taking more attention to details, Naruto had realized that some of the teachers at the academy were trying (really hard) to sabotage his education. Some were subtle by giving him faulty training scrolls or making sure his study books went missing or giving him a harder test. He could've gone and complained to the Hokage but Naruto decided otherwise. The old man had given him ample tools to succeed, going to him for complaints would be insulting. He didn't know why the villagers hated him but he would not let them bring him down, he would surpass these obstacles and rise to glory.

...

 **Seventh months after receiving the Scroll, Fourth month at the academy**

Our favourite blonde was currently finishing the last contents of his favourite dish which he calls with affection "the food of the gods". The owners of the Ichiraku stand had always been kind to him since he met them the first time. They never looked at him with hate or ignore him; in fact they would always listen to his dreams of becoming Hokage with a kind smile and encourage him.

"Thanks for the meal old man" Naruto thanked Teuchi the ramen vendor who laughed heartedly "No sweat boy, just remember when you are Hokage to endorse my shop." jokes the cook. He liked Naruto's positive spirit and he had noticed that since a year ago the boy had become stronger and more dedicated to his training. He was still the bright ball of sunshine he met a few years ago but now he was calmer, more focused and shouted less. What had shocked Teuchi and most of the villagers the boy had stopped his pranks, granted they were harmless and sometimes borderline brilliant for a kid his age. But it had soothed the nerves of many and served to repair his reputation which wasn't that good to begin with.

Another dramatic change was the change of wardrobe. Gone was the orange jumpsuit, instead Naruto was wearing a black version of his old clothes with red lines travelling the sleeves and pants vertically; on the back of the neck was a hoodie to hide his hair and face if he chooses to. He also wore black fingerless gloves with metal plates on the back of it. Conclusion it gave Naruto a professional if not intimidating look if he chose to display a serious expression.

"Believe it old man" cheers the blond as he gets up from his stool and proceeded to exit the ramen bar. So enthused by the afterglow of ramen as he walked in an alley that he barely noticed he had bumped onto an incoming group of men and women, civilians judging by their looks and not the good kind. If Naruto had to guess by looking at their tattoos he would say Yakuza, nonetheless he decided to not cause unnecessary trouble and to apologize.

"Sorr..." his apology died in his throat when he saw the gleam in their eyes. A gleam he was quite familiar with: Hatred.

Without further do, he passed them in silence with a low bow of his head, but just as he was about to reach the corner, he felt a strong hand grab on his shoulder.

"Where do you think you are going brat?" asks the man stopping him, from his attire and physical build Naruto guessed he was a definitely a Yakuza.

"Home why?" Naruto answers sarcastically, not willing to put up with people he didn't know why they hated him so much.

Unfortunately it seems like the man didn't like his answer and proceed to slap him with a back hand. However Naruto's quick reflexes born after months of training intercepted the man's attack and proceeded to twist the left arm, turning him around and then push him away. The civilian was so surprised by the sudden twist and sharp pain in his arm that he could not control his fall face first into the dirt.

Naruto was shocked too, it was the first time outside a spar or pranks, an adult tried to hit him. Fortunately his body had reacted in reflex.

"The demon shows his true face!" screams venomously a female companion of the down civilian, her other friends join in the fray by withdrawing from their pockets, knives and metal knuckles.

"You are going to pay, you demon!" shouts one of them armed with a knife he rushes at Naruto who is still shocked by the turning of events is unable to defend himself as he is frozen in fear.

"This is for my family!" screams the man, but his assault is interrupted short by a frying pan hitting the back of his head, making him fall unconscious on the ground.

The others turn around and see a petite young woman with an apron on her waist and a white handkerchief wrap around her hair.

"Don't hurt Naruto you bastards!" screams a furious Ayame, daughter of the ramen chief "Or I will paste your face" Out of nowhere she brings out another frying pan but this time bigger than the previous one she threw making everyone wondering where did she hid it.

"What the fuck is your problem bitch?" shouts another "He has to pay for what he..." His words were cut off courtesy of Ayame's frying pan colliding with his face.

"Naruto is no demon, he's an innocent child who loves ramen and wishes to be Hokage" declares the ramen hostess, tears threatening to escape from her eyes "I have had enough of you putting the blame on him for something he never did."

"Then die!" this time it is a woman who threw a big but sharp stone at Ayame. So surprise was she that she could not move in time before the object would collide on her face.

The stone never made it to its destination. When Ayame opened her eyes she saw someone standing in front of her and holding the stone in hand.

"Naruto" she whispers, shocked by the speed of the hyperactive blond she always considered as the little brother she never had.

Naruto's head hung low, his long hair masking his face, but when he upped his chin, revealing cold blue eyes, the assaulters got the feeling that they had committed a grave mistake.

"You can insult me and treat me anyway you want" spoke Naruto, his calm blue eyes now bristling with unrestrained fury. "But don't you dare hurt my friends!"

He threw the stone back at the woman colliding it with her chest; she was sent crashing into a fruit vendor's stall. The other thugs didn't have time to contemplate what was happening that the blond was already upon them like a raging whirlwind.

What followed would forever be ingrained into the minds of the spectators. Naruto proceeds to methodically break bones and jaws of every armed assailant, men or women before hanging them by their underwear on the lamp posts of the village streets.

"Let this be a lesson to you all!" screams Naruto, enhancing his voice with chakra so that everyone could hear him. "If I find anyone of you trying to hurt one of my friends... **There will be hell to pay!** "

His last words were laced with enough killing intent that it made the rest of the public shudder in fright.

...

Naturally the Anbu were "quick to the scene" and after receiving testimonies from the witnesses (including a certain ramen vendor and his daughter), the thugs were sent to a certain Ibiki for "mental treatment". Meanwhile Naruto under heavy escort headed to the Hokage tower, the civilians giving him a wide berth as he came in their direction. Hatred or not, they were smart enough to recognize the sign of someone who was short of blowing a fuse if angered further and after the news spread of the ass kicking he had delivered, no one was brave enough to piss him off.

Unceremoniously, Naruto kicked open the Hokage's office doors, startling a Sandaime busy smoking his pipe and reading an orange book.

"Naruto what's going on?" asks the Hokage as he discreetly put away the book inside his desk drawer.

"I want the truth old man!" shouts Naruto, his anger had lessened on his way to the tower but he was still pissed off and avid for answers. "I want to know why the villagers hate me; why do they hate me so much they want to kill me and hurt my friends?!"

Hiruzen Sarutobi, veteran of three Shinobi wars, master of politics and warfare was taken aback. His first thought was to lie, believing the young blond was not ready, but a glance at Naruto's pleading expression, he knew that if he lied there would be no going back, Naruto would never trust him again. The boy had matured a lot since he gave him the Nidaime's training scroll. Hiruzen kept a close but discreet watch on Naruto's progress over the past few months and had concluded early on that the boy was perhaps amongst the strongest genin in Konoha despite not having graduated yet. Of course he was still an academy student and had no combat experience but Hiruzen knew that with time and experience Naruto would become a fearsome ninja. However he had underestimated the length the villagers and some of his shinobi would go to hurt the boy. As Naruto narrated what happened earlier, Hiruzen became even more depressed.

' _Fools! All of them are fools!'_ was the Sandaime's thoughts as he listened

Couldn't they understand he was just an innocent boy given a burden he had never wished nor ask for?

"Am I the Kyuubi?" asks Naruto interrupting the Hokage's musings

Those four words were what Hiruzen had feared hearing for the longest time since he knew Naruto. Immediately he got up from his desk and grabbed the boy into a tenderly hug.

"Who told you such lies?" asks the Hokage

"It wasn't hard to figure it out, being often called a demon would drive the point enough" spat the boy, then he opened his jumpsuit and lifted his t-shirt, revealing an intricate tattoo on his belly "Let's not forget the seal on my stomach" the boy spoke in a deadpan but melancholic tone.

"No Naruto" plead the old man as his eyes met his "You aren't the Kyuubi, you are its jailor."

Hiruzen proceeded to tell him the truth behind the Kyuubi disaster. The Yondaime could not kill the Biju since it was a mass of chakra; instead he sealed it inside a newborn baby: Naruto.

For a moment the boy stood silent in the chair facing the Hokage's desk, his expression unreadable made Hiruzen shiver in worry and sympathy. Knowing your personal hero had sealed a demon in your guts was not a pleasant feeling.

"Why me, then?" asks the blonde after an eternity

The Hokage was tempted to say he was the only one born that day but he had a feeling Naruto would sniff his lie. Nonetheless he couldn't tell everything to the boy, not now anyway but a bit of the truth might be better than lying.

"Because you are an Uzumaki, Naruto." answers the Sandaime "The chakra of the Kyuubi is so powerful and toxic that it would make anyone else go mad and die horribly. Only the Uzumaki clansmen could hope to contain the Kyuubi because of their long life span and chakra reserves."

To say Naruto was shocked was an understatement. He belonged to a clan and they were the only one capable of holding the Kyuubi.

"Where are the Uzumaki?" a simple question but it meant quite a lot, as far as he knew he was the only Uzumaki in this village otherwise he would've known.

"I am afraid they are gone Naruto." answers Hiruzen sadly "Their village Uzushiogakure was wiped out by rival villages a long time ago. Konoha arrived too late to help and only a few survivors were found. Your mother Uzumaki Kushina was the only one from the main family who survived, she came to Konoha before her clan's demise to live with her grand aunt, Uzumaki Mito."

"The Shodaime's wife?" asks Naruto, he remember reading a bit about her. He had been surprise she had his family name but thought it was a coincidence. Then again such word doesn't exist in the shinobi vocabulary. "Let me guess, Mito was the Kyuubi's container. And my mother was her successor."

Hiruzen was surprised by the boy's deduction but smiled nonetheless; Naruto had become quite sharp now that he was more focus in his studies.

"Indeed" nods the Hokage "As you read in the history books, Madara Uchiha took control of the Kyuubi to do battle against Hashirama Senju. What is unknown to most however, after Madara's defeat, the Shodaime and Mito Uzumaki sealed the Kyuubi within herself. Mito-sama kept the world safe from the demon fox for many years even after the Shodaime's death. When she felt her end approaching she requested to her clan to send someone to replace her. Your mother Uzumaki Kushina became her successor. Until your birth, knowledge that the Kyuubi had been sealed into a human was not known except to a select few."

"I take it something happened then?" asks the blond, feeling a knot forming in his guts and judging by the sudden somber expression of his surrogate grandfather, he had a feeling something really bad happened that day.

"Indeed" Hiruzen eyes suddenly became distant and filled with grief, he sigh and resumed the tale "You see when a Juunchiriki becomes pregnant, the seal holding the demon weakens. As such the Yondaime was present during your mother's pregnancy to ensure that the seal holds and you be born safely. My own wife Biyako was also present to assist your mother in giving you birth."

Naruto was slightly awed to learn that the old man's wife had helped giving birth to him. But he felt confuse because he had never met her and he had a feeling something bad happened.

"What happened that night Jiji?" he asks

"I don't really know Naruto" says the Sandaime with a tired and painful sigh "All I know is that someone killed the ANBU guards and my wife, then freed the Kyuubi from your mother and unleashed it on Konoha."

For a moment Naruto stood silent as he digested the information. "To be able to sneak on the Yondaime he must have been very powerful" he said not mentioning being able to free the Kyuubi but that was not needed to be said.

"The Yondaime did everything in his power to stop the Kyuubi and your mother from dying due to having the Biju being forcefully pulled from her thus Minato had no other choice but to seal it inside you by invoking the Shinigami."

Naruto fell on the chair behind him; the Yondaime had summoned the god of death. The few studies he had done on Fuinjutsu basics had told him that the art of sealing was intricately linked to the cycle of life and death, thus Naruto knew that it was possible to summon such entity however the price for it was beyond just death, it meant that the Yondaime was forever condemn to the Shinigami's stomach and would never know peace.

"I see you understand the weight of his sacrifice" Hiruzen said softly as he studied Naruto's expression, he knew the boy had learned enough about Fuinjutsu to understand the consequences of Minato's act.

"The Yondaime entrusted the Kyuubi to you, not just because of your Uzumaki's heritage but because he had faith in you and the Will of Fire."

"He was my father wasn't he?" the boy asks his head hung low, however Hiruzen could tell it wasn't a question. The Sandaime gave him a soft smile and nodded

"No father could ever thrust such responsibility onto a child that wasn't his" the old man spoke softly.

An hour passed in silence as Naruto contemplated the news the Hokage had revealed to him. A part of Naruto was angry that his own father sealed a demon in his gut and as a result he had become the symbol of hatred for the villagers, but the more rationale part of his mind told Naruto that his father had no choice and would have never done it to the child of another. Furthermore he was an Uzumaki, the only clan capable of holding an entity such as the Kyuubi due to their amazing vitality. Upon coming to all of these facts, Naruto felt pride that his father who had barely known him for just a few hours had given him such task. He also felt proud of his mother and great grandmother Mito Uzumaki for the burden they had carried all this years.

" _I can't let them down"_ he thought _"As an Uzumaki and the son of the Yondaime I must carry on their legacy."_

While he didn't voice it out loud, Naruto's eyes were as illuminating as the sun and Hiruzen would have to be blind not to see it. At that moment here and then, the Sandaime knew that he was standing in front of his future successor.

 **...**

 **So here is the first chapter, as you can see Naruto's training is progressing rapidly. The Nidaime's scroll is a training manual not a miracle fountain of jutsu. In the manga and anime Naruto has always relied on his Shadow Clones, Kawarimi and Henge while he doesn't know the Kage Bunshin yet he will learn of it soon but not like he did in canon. Regarding his discovery of the Kyuubi and his parents I felt it best to do it right now instead of later as it will force Naruto to mature faster and be a force to be reckoned.**

 **The next chapter, Naruto is going on the warpath literally, Konoha better brace itself.**


End file.
